Personal mobile devices, such as smartphones or tablets, are increasingly using applications, apps, that utilize or even require wireless data transfer over mobile networks. Accordingly, the amount of data transferred over mobile network is increasing and in order to enjoy the use of a mobile device, a user needs to have access to mobile data services.
Traditionally, a user purchases a mobile data plan from an operator, for example from a retail or call centre, or increasingly from internet. However, such data plans cannot be provided instantly when they are needed, nor can they be set up from the mobile device with which they are meant to be used. In addition, such data plans are for generic purposes rather than fit for the precise need of the user. More importantly, such data plans are created on the network of the operator and require changes to the network.
Systems providing the user a possibility to subscribe to a mobile data from the mobile device with which the data plan is used exist. For example the device may comprise an application provided by the operator with which a mobile data plan can be subscribed to, or a mobile data plan may be requested for example using short messaging service (SMS). However, such solutions again require the data plan to be set up on the operator network. Furthermore, some prior art technologies provide dedicated systems in the device for subscribing to mobile data, but such systems require pre-installation and changes to the operation system of the mobile device and are accordingly available for certain dedicated devices only. In addition, such prior art systems are typically not optimized for the world centered on the apps. Finally, the systems may also require modifications to the operator network. Systems of the above types are known e.g. from patent applications US2012108200A and WO13112642A2.
Furthermore, applications providing control and monitoring of mobile data usage exist, with the possibility of controlling the data usage of a certain application also. Such systems, known e.g. from patent applications US2012254285A and US2011276442A, do not address the problem of setting up a mobile data plan from the mobile device.
Finally, the known applications do not provide the possibility to set up a wireless data transfer depending on the app requesting the data transfer and/or on the context of the data transfer.
It is an object of the invention to mitigate the shortcomings of the prior art by providing a context-dependent wireless data transfer by providing a method and system according to the aspects of the invention for app-specific and contextual data transfer setup on a mobile device. It is a further object of the invention to provide for a convenient purchase of data directly from a mobile device, contextually right for app usage with an enhanced user experience without hindrance to using the mobile device, such as a smartphone.